ADMISSION TO DBT SPONSORED MSc IN MARINE BIOTECHNOLOGY
The focus in Marine Biotechnology program is to provide appropriate theoretical knowledge and laboratory skills for the development of various biotechnological tools and technologies in marine sciences and to implement the needs of the economy through marine entrepreneurship, study of marine environmental systems and fisheries, development of marine biotechnological processes. The program provides training in basic and advanced skills meant to empower youth to develop the sustainable strategy of harnessing the marine environment for food, medicines and other resources. This postgraduate program is sponsored by the Ministry of Science & Technology, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India. Students are selected through a National Level Graduate Aptitude Test-Biotechnology (GAT-B) and the selected ones are awarded with a fellowship by DBT, Govt. of India. However, students who do not appear for GAT-B examination can enrol under the non-DBT category with the existing tuition fee of the university but without a fellowship.
My specific area of research is to understand the role of ribosomes in bone marrow failure syndromes and cancer. Other areas of research include developing non-invasive and alternative DNA-based molecular tools for detection of specific mutations in cancer, developing transgenic zebrafish as cancer models and screening of natural antic-cancer compounds in zebrafish using HTS technology.
Over the past 12 years I have worked on development of many new diagnostic techniques for a bacterial, viral pathogen as well as a parasite affecting humans using my expertise on LAMP technique and characterization (identification and function) of cytokines under different stress/infection. At present my research area and interest focusses on development of rapid molecular detection techniques, development of transgenic zebrafish lines for human diseases, Human /animal parasitology, and Molecular Immunology.
Doctor of Philosophy (Applied Biochemistry and Bioscience), University of Miyazaki, Japan, 2007
Master of Science (Aquaculture), West Bengal University of Animal Sciences, Kolkata, 2003
Molecular detection techniques
Molecular Genetics
Bioinformatics
Human/animal parasitology
Japan-Asia Youth Exchange program in Science for undergraduates (SAKURA exchange program in science) coordinator, 2018
Japan-Asia Youth Exchange program in Science (SAKURA exchange program in science) awardee, 2016
Following Ph.D., Dr. Biswajit Maiti continued his research career at the College of Fisheries, Mangaluru. Later, he joined NUCSER as Assistant Professor in 2013. He has also worked as a visiting researcher in Food Microbiology at Obihiro University, Japan, during 2015 -2016. From the past decade, he has been working on the development of cutting-edge diagnostic methods for rapid detection microbial pathogens, deciphering outer membrane proteins based-antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens, and development of novel vaccines using biotechnological approaches. He has numbers of publications in scientific journals of repute, and book chapters to his credit, received research funds from various external agencies, and guiding students for their Ph.D., and postgraduate research dissertation.
Doctor of Philosophy (Bioscience), Mangalore University, 2012
Master of Science (Microbiology), Jiwaji University, 2006
Convener, Biotechnology in one health for pre-university college students sponsored by BRSI under the scheme Biotechnology popularization and skill development, 2019-2020.
Dr. Praveen Rai did PhD (Molecular Virology) from Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar. He joined NUCSER in 2014. He has 36 research publications in highly rated journals of international standard, mostly related to molecular characterization of microbial pathogens. Currently, his research focuses on molecular characterization of Dengue and Rotaviruses, development of point of care diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2, Dengue virus, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Malaria Parasite and Leptospira, Screening of antiviral compounds, Host-Pathogen Interaction, RNA Interference and Phage based biocontrol technologies. His research work is supported by various agencies such as SERB, DST, DBT, ICMR and Nitte (DU).
Dr. Deekshit completed his PhD (Microbiology) from Manipal University and had been worked as a research associate at UNESCO MIRCEN for Marine Biotechnology (KVAFSU), Mangalore. He did his short-term post-doc at University College Dublin, Ireland in the year 2018. His research focus includes molecular characterization of nontyphoidal Salmonella with special consideration to their antibiotic resistance mechanism which led to the detection of class 1 integrons in Salmonella Weltevreden and silent antibiotic resistance genes in some non-typhoidal isolates of Salmonella. Further, he developed a PCR for the simultaneous detection of Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 2 and its antibiotic resistance genes. He has also developed a Miss Match mutation PCR assay for the detection of QRDR mutation in fluoroquinolone resistant E. coli. His research interest includes identifying the characteristics of multidrug resistant gut pathogens in simulated gut condition, developing nanobiotics against MDR gut pathogens and determining the anticancer ability non-typhoidal Salmonella in vitro.
Dr. Krishna Kumar Ballamoole is a molecular microbiologist, obtained Ph.D. (Microbiology) from Manipal University. His research focuses on understanding and characterizing the genomic patterns that drives the evolution and infection capabilities of microbial pathogens of humans and animals. His work combines classical microbiological methods, molecular biology tool and next-generation sequencing strategies as fundamental tools to shed light on evolution, virulence capabilities and antibiotic resistance mechanisms in clinically relevant human and animal pathogens. In addition to pursuing the main research interest, the he is also involved in developing monoclonal antibody and nucleic acid based rapid diagnostics for the detection of pathogens.
Anurag Sharm is working as Assistant Professor at NUCSER, Nitte University. During his Ph.D. he studied the stress response of endosulfan on D. melanogaster, a non-target organism, at sub-organismal as well as organismal level. Further, his studies also highlight the potential of D. melanogaster as an alternative animal model for in-vivo assessment of environmental chemical mediated toxicity, which might have relevance to higher organisms. Later, he joined CNRS-Centre de Biologie du Développement, Toulouse, France as a postdoctoral researcher and worked on deciphering the function of the Drosophila hematopoietic niche to maintain blood cell homeostasis. Presently, he is engaged in the following areas-a) Development of an in vivo Drosophila model to study toxicant/radiation induced hematopoietic perturbations and b) Host-Microbe interaction and environmental toxicants.
Doctor of Philosophy (Cellular and Molecular toxicology), CSIR-IITR Lucknow and Jamia Hamdard, 2012
Master of Science (Biotechnology), Jiwaji University, 2005
Cellular and Molecular toxicology
Cellular immune response
Cellular and molecular stress response
DST-SERB Young scientist start-up grant award, 2017
Japan-Asia Youth Exchange program in Science (SAKURA exchange) awardee, 2018
In-charge, Lab Resource Committee, NUCSER
Member Secretary, Institutional committee against sexual harassment, NUCSER
Member, Institutional committee against substance abuse, NUCSER
Dr. Vivek completed his Ph.D. (Molecular & Cell Biology) from Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), Strasbourg Université, France. He has worked as a DBT research associate at National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi India. He did his post-doc at Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC), Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His research focus includes replication stress mediated DNA damage response and tumorigenesis. Further, he discovered a molecular mechanism underlying the oscillation between sensitivity and resistance to FDA-approved PARP inhibitor drugs for BRCA1- and BRCA2 mutated breast cancer cells with important implications for treatment strategies and patient outcomes. His research interest includes identifying the novel druggable molecular targets associated with SUMOylation/Ubiquitylation cellular pathways and discovering their potential roles in the modulation of replication fork dynamics and genome stability. Thereafter, determine their anticancer efficacy by employing advanced experimental techniques to develop combined therapies which would involve increasing their sensitivity to existing therapeutic drugs for the treatments of cancer patients in the clinics.
With more than 15 years of experience in research and teaching, she has attended several conferences and been resource person at National and International level. Her latest visit to the U.S.A where she was invited as speaker to present a research paper on Zika virus at the First International Conference on Zika Virus 2017 held at Washington D.C, 2017. Her major research areas include Parasitology with special interest in Malaria in the city of Mangaluru where drug resistance is beginning to appear. She is presently working in the division of Bioinformatics and Computational genomics with increased surveillance and research on various viruses spreading across the globe.
Assistant Professor, Nitte University Center for Science Education and Research, Mangaluru (2013- till date)
Project Assistant, College of Fisheries, Mangaluru (2006-2013)
Molecular characterization of malarial plasmodium
Malaria and Antimicrobial Resistance
Molecular Biology
Bioinformatics
Sequencing and bioinformatics
Member, Board of Studies in Biological Sciences (UG and PG), Nitte DU
Member, Lab Vigilance Committee, NUCSER
Program Officer-NSS, NUCSER
Currently guiding Ph.D. student, working on the malaria problem in south-west India
Dr. Ramya Harsha is an Assistant Professor at NUCSER. She has obtained her Ph.D. degree from Department of Microbiology, University of Mysore in the year 2012. She joined NUCSER in 2013. Her research interests include virulence in bacterial pathogens, quorum sensing and isolation of anti-quorum sensing molecules from phytal sources and attenuation of quorum sensing in bacteria. She has secured second rank in MSc Microbiology from University of Mysore.
My research emphasizes on virulence in foodborne/zoonotic pathogens and the use of antisense technologies to combat drug resistance in bacteria. My current research focuses on developing diagnostic/ immunotherapeutic assays for animal viruses and isolation of bioactive compounds from marine sources.
'Klebsiella pneumoniae infections and antimicrobial drug resistance' chapter is published in the book entitled as Model organism for microbial pathogenesis, biofilm formation and antimicrobial discovery (2020), ISBN 978-981-15-1694-8.
Dr. Mamatha BS completed her Ph.D. from CFTRI, Mysore. Pursued teaching as my career and joined St. Aloysius College (Autonomous), Mangalore from 2014- 2017. Later, she joined NUCSER in 2017. She has 18 research articles and external reseach projects to her credits. Her research interest lies in two areas of food science, the bioavailability of lutein (xanthophyll carotenoid) in mice model and antihypertensive peptides from fish protein hydrolysates.
Doctor of Philosophy (Nutritional Biochemistry), Central Food Technological Research Center (CFTRI), University of Mysore, Mysore, 2013
Master of science (Food Science and Nutrition), University of Mysore, 2002
Food Safety
Nutritional Biochemistry
Food Technology
Dr. Sudarshan Kini is a Bionanotechnologist who obtained Ph.D. (Nanotechnology) from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and has Post-Doctoral experience from Manipal University. His research areas are the fabrication of biomaterial scaffolds for the 3D culturing of cancer cells and Pseudomonas biofilms. He is also working on developing quantum dot-based fluorescent nanobiosensors to detect MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
Best Paper award at International conference on Recent Advances in Materials Science and Biophysics at Mangalore, 2018.
Best poster in the International symposium on Nanotechnology and Cancer Theranostics (ISNACT-2015) at IIT Bombay, 2015
GATE qualified with 98.27 percentiles, All India rank 226, score 476.
In the current scenario where antibiotics no longer work, the need for alternative strategies have looked at phage therapy and I have been actively involved in research on phage-based therapeutics not only for human therapeutic use but also biocontrol in foods for more than 10 years.
Phage therapy and phage biology
Infectious diseases
Bacteriology
I am presently working as Assistant Professor in NUCSER, and have 8 years of teaching experience. As a researcher, I have been working in environmental toxicology- related areas for the past 15years. During my PhD 2015-2022, I have worked extensively on the identification of Legionella pneumophila, a pathogen of respiratory pneumonia. In addition, my expertise is in analysis of water quality parameters, microbiological techniques (soil and water), molecular techniques. I have been guiding the PG students as a guide and a Co-guide. I am also involved in analyzing external samples of food and water, and providing training to personnel from different parts of the country. I have a few GenBank submissions in my name. At present, my focus is on understanding the effects of several environmental toxicants including microplastics using the zebrafish model system. I intend to find out the changes in environmental parameters and phenotypic changes of living organisms in the polluted area.
Microbiology
Infectious Disease
Environment &toxicology
My academic journey, with the blend of chemistry/biotechnology and biomedical sciences has equipped me with a comprehensive understanding of application of science into human health and diseases. I am interested in exploring and integrating my knowledge on antimicrobial resistance, biofilm, molecular and microbiology into the domain of food science and technology to address complex challenges of food safety and public health. I am also keen on research involving functional foods and prebiotics for a sustainable development strategy and promote environmental stewardship.
After competing my Ph.D., I have worked as Research associate and joined NUCSER as Scientist (G-I) in 2019. My research interest includes Infectious Disease Biology (Bacteriology), Antimicrobial Resistance, Food Microbiology and Biopolymers.
Dr. Akshath completed his Ph.D. at CSIR-CFTRI, Mysore, with a specialization in Biosensors and Bio-imaging. His work was focused on nanoparticle-based biosensors to detect food contaminants and toxins using enzymes/aptamers as biorecognition elements. After his Ph.D., he was awarded the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship (MCIFs) at the University of Leeds, UK. His work was focused on polyvalent glycan-nanoparticles to decipher HIV/Ebola infections using dendritic cell receptors-DCSIGN/R. His research at NUCSER is focused on developing nano-sensors to detect contaminants, bacteria, viruses etc. His research also focuses on glycan-nanoparticles to decipher bacterial/viral infections and inhibition. He has published papers in journals of international repute ex-Journal of American Chemical Society, Biosensors & Bioelectronics, etc.
No. of PhDs
Ongoing: 2
No. of UGs guided: 4
No. of PGs guided:
Ongoing as guide:3
Conference/Journal publications
Selected Journal publications:
All publication:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-f785t4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Conference/Journal workshops: 09
Conference publications-09
My area of research involves the isolation of novel strains of bacteria from ethnomedicinal plants and their application in the degradation process of various contaminants. Further, I also study the safety of the strain isolated and understand if these endophytic bacterial or fungal strains are safe for the environment.
Environmental biotechnology, Bioprocess technology bioremediation of contaminants, oil degradation, and toxicity assessment using biological systems are my areas of experimentation oriented towards contributing to the UN sustainable goal 3; 6;9;11; 15;13, and 14.
The purpose of my research is oriented towards developing sustainable methods to tackle the upcoming environmental problems concerned with pollutants and their toxicity.
• Member of student welfare committee, NUCSER
• Member, Women cell -NUCSER